A group of self-described “kayaktivists” in the U.S. are planning to stage their second protest in four days today against the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.
The Mosquito Fleet will again put a floatilla on the Columbia River, leaving Portland, Ore., and paddling to a port in Vancouver, WA., where cargo ships carrying pipe are destined for Burnaby and other spots along the TMX route.
Burnaby’s Westridge Marine Terminal has been the site of several protest floatillas in the past year.
On Friday, about a dozen boats rallied in front of a cargo ship as it began unloading the pipe, according to a statement by the Mosquito Fleet.
“Earlier that day, activists scaled machinery on a nearby dock and hung a banner that read ‘#StopTMX: No Tar Sands,’” read the statement. “At the rally (today), kayakers intend to again raise a 70-foot-long banner that says ‘Stop Trans Mountain’ and bring attention to the growing opposition in Washington and Oregon to the tar sands expansion project, which threatens the shared waters of Canada and the U.S. The expansion would lead to a massive increase in tanker traffic, and many people are worried that an oil spill would threaten the livelihood of waterfront communities and species like salmon and the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales.”
Video below is by John Sellers:
